Tony Lynch signs off with Lydden Hill podium

Wigan racer Tony Lynch battled hard on track to secure a podium finish from the final two rounds of the Retro Rallycross Championship season at Lydden Hill.

Tony and his Landsail Team Geriatric squad made the long trip to the Kent circuit with an outside chance of securing the championship title despite missing the opening two meetings of the year at the same circuit as he recovered from surgery.

Things started well for Tony when he won his opening heat of the weekend before taking second behind Terry Moore’s Mini in heat two – finishing both ahead of points leader Dan Swayland.

However, a snapped steering arm then forced Tony to retire from the final heat, which left him to line up in third place on the grid for the final behind Swayland and Moore.

Tony remained confident of pushing for victory but his hopes of adding to his win tally were ended by a broken shock absorber that severely affected the handling of his Toyota MR2 and left him to settle for fourth spot.

The final round the following day would see Tony forced to compete with the same suspension issue that had hampered him on Saturday but despite nursing the car through the three heats, he was still able to qualify in second place for the final.

Unable to keep pace with the front-runners when the final got underway, Tony successfully brought the car home to the finish in third place to ensure that he ends the 2024 campaign second in the championship standings.

“Going into the final weekend, we knew it was going to be a big ask to try and beat Dan to the title, as the decision to remove dropped scores from the regulations really put us on the back foot after missing a round,” he said.

“Had the regulations remained as we believed they were going to be, we’d have gone into the finale with a fighting chance rather than having to hope that we could pick up a big haul of points, and for Dan would have some misfortune – which isn’t how you want to win a title anyway.

“Even then, I felt confident we could push for two wins to end the season but unfortunately it didn’t go our way with the steering arm issue in Saturday’s final heat, and then the suspension problems that we had to deal with from that point on.

“It’s a shame that things outside our control ultimately hampered our chances of fighting for for the win, but at the same time, it didn’t ultimately it didn’t have an impact on where we have ended the season as Dan did what he needed to do. Had the regulations been unchanged, we’d have taken the title by a point, which I think we can look at as a moral victory.

“Overall, I’m hugely proud of the way we have performed this season and to finish as runner-up having missed two rounds, and having taken more wins than anyone else, is a fantastic achievement. Credit has to go to the team who have been fantastic all season, and I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of our partners for helping us to go racing again this year.

“The winter promises to be a busy one as we work on the upgrades that we had to delay over the summer and we look forward to being back out challenging for honours again in 2025.”